Otto C. Winzen was an innovator and a visionary who is best known for introducing new balloon materials and construction methods. He emigrated to the United States from Germany in 1937 and spent World War II in a series of internment camps. He studied aeronautical engineering at the University of Detroit, where he met his wife, Vera Habrecht. After the war, he became involved with the rebirth of high-altitude ballooning and paired up with Jean Piccard at General Mills.

Winzen pioneered the use of polyethylene resin for plastic balloons. Produced from ethylene, a petroleum derivative, the polyethylene was light, relatively cheap, and unaffected by ultraviolet radiation. Winzen convinced his manufacturing sources to find ways to make the plastics thinner and thinner until his balloons were thinner than human hair.

Winzen left General Mills in 1949 to found Winzen Research, Inc., with the help of his wife, Vera, who played a key role as vice-president and chief of production. In the 1950s, Winzen sold plastic balloons to the Navy on Project Helios, Skyhook, and Strato-Lab. He also sold plastic balloons to the Air Force on a secret reconnaissance mission to overfly Russia called Moby Dick.

Winzen Research did well for itself in the 1960s. But after moving the manufacturing plant to Texas and selling off chunks of Winzen Research to his employees, Winzen started losing control. No longer looked to for advice and unhappy in a second marriage, depression set in. In 1976 at the age of 58, the great innovator of the plastic balloon revolution committed suicide.